Early Years Foundation Stage

Kent College Dubai is set in a brand new campus within the Meydan Free Zone in close range of a wide number of popular residential areas. Our campus provides state of the art designs and facilities for all pupils from Early Years to Year 13.

In our Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) department the school provides ample indoor and outdoor space to ensure that the curriculum can be delivered in the most creative and practical of ways, and in order to allow all of our children to be happy and successful learners. Teaching areas are spacious and light. Specialist areas have been carefully designed to enable children to access the curriculum and develop their skills appropriately. Each class is timetabled to use our stimulating playground, which allows children to have fun whilst developing their gross motor and social skills.

Welcome to Kent College Dubai

All teachers at Kent College Dubai hold a teaching degree from a UK University or an equivalent degree recognised in the UK. Our highly experienced Early Years teaching team is led by the Head of EYFS, who has a great deal of experience in early childhood development. �e Head of EYFS makes sure that the curriculum is focused and delivered according to the high expectations and ethos of the school. Every class in the EYFS has a teaching assistant to support learning and personal development.

Teachers

Children entering Foundation Stage One (FS1) at Kent College Dubai come from many different backgrounds. Some have attended pre-school nurseries for a year or more, whilst others are used to a home environment. These different experiences will determine the types and level of activities that will be presented to your child in order to provide a challenging and stimulating learning environment.

At Kent College Dubai, our staff are committed to providing a safe, friendly and inspiring environment for the children to fully develop their skills, understanding and knowledge. Through child led play and then through more structured teacher led activities, children make progress. Our teachers are committed to fostering and reinforcing a positive self-image for all children, and promoting respect and care for themselves, their peers, their belongings and their environment. �e teachers carefully plan and organise their activities and classrooms to encourage the children to become independent, con�dent, resourceful individuals who are able to problem solve.

Experiences

�e FS1 and FS2 years, known as the ‘Foundation Stage of Development’ are essential years. �ey provide a �rm base for all future learning to �ourish. It is vital that children have the opportunity to build their knowledge and understanding to ensure that they develop a secure foundation for later life.

THE CURRICULUM IN FS1 AND FS2 CENTRES ON SEVEN DIFFERENT AREAS OF LEARNING:

COMMUNICATION AND LANGUAGE

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

PERSONAL, SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT LITERACY

MATHEMATICS

UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

EXPRESSIVE ARTS AND DESIGN

Active learning through play and experimental investigation is an essential basis for e�ective education at every stage. Teachers and their assistants endeavour to create a stimulating environment in order to facilitate learning and to capitalize on the children’s interests.

�e children are encouraged to lead their own learning, and as such, the organization of space, materials and people is designed to support this independence. Within the classroom organization, there is a carefully considered schedule, which provides a framework for planning. Children learn to make decisions, ask questions and re�ect on their own learning. Careful observations of the children’s development allow the teachers to make informed judgements about the learning taking place and possible next steps, to plan relevant, challenging and motivating learning experiences for each child.

The Foundation Stage of Development and Learning

Key aspects of e�ective learning characteristics include children:

• being willing to have a go;• being involved and concentrating;• having their own ideas;• choosing ways to do things;• �nding new ways; and• enjoying achieving what they set out to do.

�e four themes of the Early Years Foundation Stage underpin all of the planning, observation and assessment of individuals.

THESE THEMES ARE:

A UNIQUE CHILD

POSITIVE RELATIONSHIPS

ENABLING ENVIRONMENTS

LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT

Children are able to join us at Kent College Dubai in the term that they turn three years of age, if we feel they are ready and well-prepared for school.

Child initiated activity

Key aspects of e�ective learning characteristics

Child initiated activity

Key aspects of e�ective learning characteristics

Child initiated activity

Finding out and exploring is concerned with the child’s open-ended hands-on experiences

which result from innate curiosity and provide raw sensory material from which

the child builds concepts, tests ideas and finds out.

Using what they know in their play describes how children use

play to bring together theircurrent understandings, combining, refining and exploring their ideas in imaginative ways. Representing experiences through imaginative play supports the development of narrative thought, the ability to see from other perspectives, and symbolic thinking.

Being willing to have a go refers to the child finding an

interest, initiating activities, seeking challenge, having a ‘can

do’ orientation, being willing to take a risk in new experiences, and

developing the view of failures as opportunities to learn.

The Characteristics of Effective Learning explained

Being involved and concentrating describes the intensity of attention that arises from children concentrating on following a line of interest in their activities.

Keeping on trying refers to the importance of persistence even in the face of challenge ordifficulties, an element of purposeful control which supports resilience.

Enjoying achieving what they set out to do refers to the reward of meeting one’s own goals,building on the intrinsic motivation which supports long-term success, rather than relying onthe approval of others.Creating and thinking critically - thinking

Having their own ideas covers the critical area of creativity - generating new ideas andapproaches in all areas of endeavour. Being inventive allows children to find new problems asthey seek challenge, and to explore ways of solving these.

Using what they already know to learn new things refers to the way in which childrendevelop and link concepts, find meaning in sequence, cause and effect and in the intentions ofothers through both narrative and scientific modes of thought.

Choosing ways to do things and finding new ways involves approaching goal-directedactivities in organised ways making choices and decisions about how to approach tasks,planning and monitoring what to do and being able to change strategies.

The SEVEN AREAS of

LEARNING EXPLAINED

Communication and Language

This key area of learning focuses on listening and attention, understanding and speaking skills. Although all teaching is in English, many children play and develop their communication skills in their home language, which is an important part of their development. As the children progress through the FS1 year, they will become more con�dent when communicating in English.

SPEAKING AND LISTENING

Through role-play, small group, whole class and individual sessions, children develop their language skills and vocabulary. Our goal is to ensure that the children listen attentively in a range of situations, They listen to stories, events and questions. We encourage all children to respond and engage appropriately. They are encouraged to answer ‘how and why’ questions

about their experiences. By the time our children leave FS2, we aim for them

to be able to express themselves using grammatically correct

sentences. We encourage children to use their

imagination by using stories as a base to

explore creative settings.

Physical development is as the title suggests about how young children gain control of their bodies,

but it also includes how children learn about keeping themselves active and healthy and how they learn to use equipment and materials successfully and safely.

MOVING AND HANDLING

We often take for granted the way we move about in a crowd avoiding all the people around us – yet little children have to learn skills such as walking, balancing and not bumping into things. As well as developing the gross motor skills required to move about children also need to develop control of all the smaller muscles which move when we pick something up or put it down – these take time to develop and come through using and playing with objects such as spoons, beakers, cars, jigsaws and other playthings. From this early start children develop body-confidence which encourages them to want to push a car along a track, ride a scooter or jump in a puddle. As children develop control and coordination they eventually learn how to handle items such as a felt pen, a pair of scissors or a paint brush.

HEALTH AND SELF-CARE

Through Health and Self-care children find out about the effects of a healthy life style on their bodies. This includes all the factors that affect healthy development including making healthy choices in relation to food. It also includes managing their personal needs, such as dressing, when it is appropriate.

Physical Development Physical Development Physical Development Physical Development

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED) is recognised as one of the building blocks of success in life. It supports children’s development by helping them to interact e�ectively and develop positive attitudes to themselves and others. Kent College Dubai provide many opportunities to develop this through positive and meaningful interaction with in�uential adults, providing children with positive feedback and modelling appropriate behaviour.

SELF-CONFIDENCE AND SELF-AWARENESS

�is aspect is about how children come to develop con�dence in who they are and what they can do and in expressing their own ideas. We know that although many children have several people who care deeply about them, all children need to have at least one person who is ‘on their side’ for them to really thrive. �is helps the child feel valued and special and gives them a sense of self-worth. �is in turn leads to them being con�dent with others and knowing when they need support from other people.�is aspect is about how children can understand their own feelings and other people’s feelings, and how they learn to manage their feelings without letting them spill out at every small annoyance they meet. It also links to how they learn and can follow simple rules which operate

in di�erent places such as home and a setting or a play area. Children need the support of adults to help them to understand these complex and o�en challenging areas.

MAKING RELATIONSHIPS

�is aspect is about how young children learn to get along with other children and with adults; how they can see something from somebody else’s point of view and take that into account when they play and work with other children. It is also signi�cant in developing friendships. To be able to do these things children need role models – adults who show them how to be with others; how to be kind and to understand why people behave in certain ways – such as saying sorry for hurting another person’s feelings.

�is area of development and learning is one which many adults continue to struggle with since it is far-ranging and complex. Helping children develop personally, socially and emotionally is o�en challenging but the bene�ts of this are life-long.

READING

Due to the age of our Foundation Stage children and our high expectations, children are exposed to phonics, words and sentences in FS1. �ey use ‘Jolly Phonics’ and ‘Letters and Sounds’ to develop understanding of how to decode high frequency (common) words.

�roughout the Foundation Stage, each child can expect to experience a curriculum which exposes him or her to di�erent kinds of texts. Children will learn how to handle a book correctly, and that a book written in English is read from le� to right. �e main elements of a story, such as characters and key events, will be highlighted to children. Children will listen to and join in with familiar stories, rhymes and poems.

In Foundation Stage, the children follow a phonics programme which teaches them the alphabet in English. �is is a multisensory approach to learning; children are taught to remember letter sounds by associating each one with an action. For example, the children rub their tummies and say ‘mmmmm’ when they are learning the sound which the letter ‘m’ makes.

Literacy

�e children begin their reading by attempting to sound out the initial letters within words. As the year progresses, children who are ready will be given increasing opportunities to read CVC words (e.g. cat, dog, pot, sun, hat, hop, etc.) and to blend letters to make new sounds, for example ‘oo’ in ‘moon’ or ‘book’, and ‘th’ in ‘thin’ and ‘that’.

Every week the children visit our well-equipped library and explore a range of high quality literature, whilst also taking part in Story Time.

WRITINGIn Foundation Stage, children will develop their �ne motor skills and hand-eye coordination. �is gives them a solid base on which to develop their writing. Using a variety of di�erent materials, children will be encouraged to trace and copy letters, shapes and their own name. Children will follow a curriculum aimed at developing small movements and skills and these activities may include threading, jigsaws, playing with di�erent construction sets, cutting and sticking, dressing, and manipulating salt dough and Plasticine. By the end of FS1 we hope to see children recognising and writing their own names with con�dence.

Mathematics

Young children’s mathematical development starts at a very early age. �eir early ex-periences provide a �rm foundation and are essential in reinforcing and building on their knowledge and understanding. Children have a natural interest in num-bers, measuring and shapes, aroused by their interaction with the environment and other people around them. �is in-terest and enthusiasm needs encourag-ing as it will help to form a sound and solid basis for later mathematics. In Foundation Stage One, children will be exploring numbers through count-ing, singing number songs and sorting objects. �rough discussion and play children will also cover aspects of shape, direction and measuring.

NUMBERS

We aim to make maths magical – and our goal is for all children to order, say and form numbers to 20 by the time they enter year 1. We extend challenges by giving them problem solving opportunities o�en related to an inspirational theme.

Understanding of the World is about how children get to know about other people, the place where they live and about all aspects of the environment.

Finding out about the world around them is what young children do very e�ectively when they

investigate by touching, holding or pressing things and by climbing on

and jumping o� things. Older children love to explore

and investigate how and why things work and to

test out their ideas of what will happen if they do a particular thing like pouring more and more water into a container, for example.

PEOPLE AND COMMUNITIES

As children learn about the world around them they

�nd out about the past through talking to parents, grandparents and

friends and they develop an interest in their own story as well as the stories in their family – this is the beginning of developing an understanding of the past and helps them to learn about how other people are di�erent from them, yet share some of the same characteristics and ideas.

THE WORLD

Understanding of the world develops as children take notice of everything around them including places and all the things within them such as trees in the natural environment and roads and tra�c in the built environment. Finding out about places begins initially when a child learns about their own home and the things nearby, then later as children notice things on journeys to and from home – such as the sequence of the tra�c lights or names on street signs. �is awareness is extended by visiting places and �nding out about di�erent elements of environments in books, on TV and through using other technology. �is aspect also focuses on learning about cause and e�ect and is developed through having conversations with adults and other children about the things they observe.

TECHNOLOGYTechnology has become commonplace for many families and children o�en see and use it quite naturally when they activate a toy such as an ambulance or police car to make a siren sound. Recognising the role of technology at home or in a setting is important because this helps children to identify the di�erent types of technology and what they are useful for.

Understanding of the World

EXPLORING AND USING MEDIA AND MATERIALS

In Foundation Stage, children’s creativity is developed and extended through di�erent subjects including art, music, dance and imaginative play. Music will be speci�cally taught by a specialist teacher, but will also be further developed as part of the FS curriculum by the teaching sta�. �roughout the Foundation Stage years, the children will experience a wide variety of activities aimed at developing their creativity, independence, imagination and con�dence.

Children will experience activities which are centered on them using all of their senses to explore and research their ideas. Children need to feel safe taking measured risks and having the con�dence to ‘have a go’. Teachers in FS1 and FS2 support children in the development of their own ideas, value their suggestions and contributions, and encourage them to feel con�dent about their creations.We use a range of materials and techniques to explore texture, colour and form. Our children have ample opportunity to get messy! It is an important part of development.

BEING IMAGINATIVE

We are committed to giving children opportunities to represent their own ideas, thoughts and feelings through design technology, art and role play.

Expressive Arts and Design

kentcollege.ae

registrar@kentcollege.ae

+971 (0) 4-3180700

Kent College Dubai, PO Box 334022, Dubai, United Arab Emirates